Many Cities, One Providence— Operation 24 pages: A Public Art Intervention in 1970s Italy

In 1973 the art historian and curator Enrico Crispolti commissioned eight artists to create photomontage posters that he installed in pre-existing advertising spaces in different cities across the Italian peninsula. This decentralized exhibition called “Operazione 24 fogli” (Operation 24 pages) aimed to infiltrate the pre-existing system of commercial advertisement with art in a public, urban setting.

Presented as part of PC–G’s Many Cities, One Providence exhibition series, Operation 24 pages: A Public Art Intervention in 1970s Italy contextualizes, historicizes and re-presents the Operazione 24 fogli in a gallery exhibition that documents and exhibits original posters and banners, as well as photographs and written material about this seminal Italian art and protest project.

Many Cities, One Providence is an exhibition series offering Providence audiences idiosyncratic glimpses of innovative artists and thinkers working in cities near and far. The series stems from Providence College Galleries’ interest in cultivating relationships with artists, scholars and arts communities from around the world in order to draw connections between the city of Providence and other urban contexts.